Grubbs agrees to work Forbes' campaign

Steve Grubbs, former Iowa Republican chairman and a key state operative, has agreed to work for Forbes' presidential campaign after flirting with the Bush camp.

"I just spent the last two months evaluating the situation, looking at all the candidates, and decided finally it's Steve Forbes' ideas I want to see succeed," Grubbs said Thursday.

The move is a coup for Forbes, who is trying to build a campaign organization after spending $4 million in Iowa three years ago only to finish fourth in the state's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.

It doesn't stop with Grubbs.

Forbes strategist Bill Dal Col says three of the state's top social conservatives have said they would support the millionaire businessman: Bobbie Gobel, head of the Christian Coalition; Steve Scheffler, former field director for the Christian Coalition; and Nancy Streck, a top activist.

A Gobel ally says she will "be supportive" but won't leave the Christian Coalition.

The coalition's support could be critical to Forbes as he tries to court social conservative voters he alienated in 1996.

Forbes also has lined up the leadership of Sen. Phil Gramm's 1996 Iowa team, including Bob House, Troy Bishop, Chad Olson and John Steinman.

Gramm finished fifth in the Iowa primary.

A Bush adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Grubbs presented a detailed campaign plan for Iowa that included putting him on the payroll immediately and reinforcing the Iowa staff March 1. The timetable was too quick for Bush, who has not decided whether to run, and Grubbs didn't want to wait, the official said.

An ally of Forbes, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Grubbs felt Bush wasn't following through on commitments regarding resources for the Iowa campaign. Indeed, speculation has increased in the state that Bush may not campaign hard in Iowa if he runs, a suggestion dismissed by Bush allies who say the governor can't commit resources to a campaign he has yet to launch.

Responding to the Forbes and Bush allies, Grubbs said: "They're both right to a certain extent. The bottom line is Iowa is going to be competitive, and Steve Forbes is the candidate I believe will make the commitment to win it."

Bush, the governor of Texas, is expected to form an exploratory committee or announce that he is not running in March. Forbes has not formally announced his intentions but is almost certain to do so.

Bush will be in Washington this weekend to attend the closed-door Alfalfa Club dinner. The club exists solely to host the annual dinner at which a presidential nominee is meaninglessly anointed and the city's political elite crack jokes about each other.

Bush's father, former President George Bush, also is expected to attend.

While in town, the Texas governor plans to meet with old political allies, and the subject of a likely presidential race will almost certainly come up, advisers say.

A potential rival, former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander, plans to announce his candidacy March 9 in Nashville, Tenn.

He won't be wearing a checkered shirt, the trademark of his failed 1996 presidential campaign.

"No more plaid shirts," spokesman Steve Schmidt said Thursday by telephone from Alexander's Nashville office. "It got in the way of his message last time."

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, also seeking the GOP presidential nomination, is making his first trek to New Hampshire since he became a candidate. He will meet privately with supporters in Manchester, N.H., on Saturday before taking questions from reporters.

Vice President Al Gore will be in the state Feb. 3, hoping to build on a political organization that has made him an early favorite against former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, the only Democrat to announce his opposition to the vice president so far.

Bradley made his first trip to the first-in-the-nation primary state this week.

President Clinton will travel to New Hampshire this month to give Gore a political boost.

On the Republican side, former American Red Cross director Elizabeth Dole will be in the state Feb. 8 to deliver a long-scheduled speech. Allies say she is more likely than ever to form a presidential exploratory committee and might time her decision to coincide somehow with the trip.